Post by moreno on Aug 1, 2013 3:54:34 GMT
I suppose the saying, “spiders are more afraid of you then you are of them” is relevant when talking about Grendel’s relationship with the town’s people. They fear him, but he also fears them (strange, right?). There is a passage in the beginning (that I can’t find) that expressed Grendel’s fear of the humans, and it comes up again when Grendel states, “I was afraid of them from habit, and as the four or five drunkest of the thanes came toward me, my idiotic fear of them mounted,” (81).
I find it surprising that Grendel fears them so much. Of course it would be scary to have a group of people swinging at you with weapons, but at the beginning of the novel Grendel made it clear that he would almost rather die than live his frustratingly lonely life…. “‘Dark chasms!’ I scream from the cliff-edge, ‘seize me! Seize me to your foul black bowels and crush my bones!’” (10). It seems from Grendel’s hatred of the world that he wouldn’t care if he passed or not, that he may even prefer to die than continue living.
Where do you think Grendel’s fear of the people stems? Is it simply a natural response to cower from death or is Grendel’s fear rooted in something deeper?
I find it surprising that Grendel fears them so much. Of course it would be scary to have a group of people swinging at you with weapons, but at the beginning of the novel Grendel made it clear that he would almost rather die than live his frustratingly lonely life…. “‘Dark chasms!’ I scream from the cliff-edge, ‘seize me! Seize me to your foul black bowels and crush my bones!’” (10). It seems from Grendel’s hatred of the world that he wouldn’t care if he passed or not, that he may even prefer to die than continue living.
Where do you think Grendel’s fear of the people stems? Is it simply a natural response to cower from death or is Grendel’s fear rooted in something deeper?
